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Championing sustainable farming practice, U.S.-based Aquabanq, Inc. is accelerating its plans for the land-based salmon production facility in the U.S. by at least 12 months.

Current plans include the construction of an industrial-scale RAS-based plant capable of producing 10m pounds (5,000 metric tons) of head-on/gutted Atlantic salmon by 2022. Five additional RAS units will be added to double the production capabilities to 20m pounds (10,000 metric tons) of fish per year by 2025.

Despite Norwegian analyst predictions (source: SpareBank1) for Atlantic salmon prices falling below US$7.00 per kilo (US$3.17/lb) in 2018, the spot price for Atlantic salmon recovered quickly and hit US$7.96 per kilo (US$3.61/lb) late last week (source: The Nasdaq Salmon Index/Fish Pool Index). “We can easily compete with [open-pen] cage farming operators as our production costs are on a par at this point” says AJ Shapiro of Aquabanq, but he continues “the fish in closed-containment systems are not exposed to parasites and pollutants like sea lice and plastic, and unlike our competitors, we can guarantee a year-round production.”

The company’s production units are based on a flexible, proven closed-loop system with optimized process logistics, low operating costs and a reduced footprint that makes them perfect for large-scale, sustainable onshore fish-farming operations. Each unit rears fish in large circular tanks with movable compartments separated in two closed-loop channels taking advantage of the circular tank’s hydrodynamics.

Aquabanq, Inc. is a subsidiary of U.K.-based Aquaculture Management and Holding Co. Ltd whose Atlantic salmon and steelhead production capacity in Europe is slated to reach 10 million pounds by 2021.

Aquaculture Management & Holding Co is led by AJ Shapiro and boasts Bent Urup as chief scientist and non-executive director.